Denver Service Jam, March 1-3

I'm on the organizing committee for this year's Denver Service Jam, and I've been having a bunch of folks ask me to let the local hacker/maker community know about the event. It was the perfect kick in the pants to join the meetup group — I've been intending to get more involved ever since I heard about it from Liz at an eTextile event a ways back. Anyways, here is the event info below, and I hope to see some of you all there!

What: A part of a global event, Denver Service Design Jam is a weekend long jam (yes, like a music jam) where designers and other creatively inclined people team up to design a service in response to a surprise theme. The theme is revealed at the beginning of the weekend, and teams have just 48 hours to create a concept, before they’re asked to share it with other designers around the world.

When: 5pm Fri March 1st - 5pm Sun March 3rd

Where: EffectiveUI, 2162 Market Street, Denver, CO 80205.

EffectiveUI is a mighty fine group of folks who have been working hard to bring more service design to the area, and we are extremely grateful for their generous sponsorship.

What is Service Design? Service design is an emerging discipline focused on creating more useful, effective, and efficient services. It isn’t aimed at creating tangible products and it isn't about digital or UX design, though products and digital experiences can be a powerful part of a service experience. When Apple created the Genius Bar or when Southwest re-imagined the way people board an airplane, they were using service design thinking. Service design is, at its core, human-centered and holistic, focused on customer needs.

Who: Anyone and Everyone. But most importantly, you! You do not have to be a service designer, or a designer at all for that matter. This is a chance to work with people you don't normally get to work with. The key to a great jam is having a mixture of talented people who are willing to experiment and challenge each other, each bringing a different piece of the puzzle.

Why: As a participant on a local Service Jam team, you will work through a whole design process in one weekend alongside over 80 teams from around the world. Whether you are experienced or completely new to the field, you won’t just be talking about service design, you will be working with others on developing concrete ideas and designs which could become real. It's a chance to share ideas, learn new methods, and have a ton of fun.

Solid State Depot is THE Boulder hackerspace. Founded in 2010 at a local coffee shop, we have graduated to our own space with our own tools and have developed quite the community.

Have no clue what a hackerspace is? Simple, it's a place for hackers, tinkerers, makers, artists, musicians, engineers, scientists, crafters, gamers, players and doers to get to together, work on projects, share ideas and create something great. They're often referred to as a makerspace, shared workshop, makershop, and many more.

Come visit us at Solid State Depot every Tuesday night, 7:30PM, where we offer an open house-style meetup. Here we open ourselves up to the public to show off our space, our projects and ourselves. Whether you're a veteran hacker or are completely new to hackerspaces, we invite you to come and see what we're all about. Our members' interests range from software, hardware, electronics, woodworking, machining, welding, art, sewing, crafting, sustainability, interactivity, philosophy to many other areas. If you have an idea you want to get off the ground, if you don't have the space or tools to work on a project, if you're looking for like-minded folks, if you need help brainstorming, if you just want a place to hang out and chat, we're here for you. Other meetups include workshops, classes and other events, so stay tuned.

If you would like to become a full-time, paying member, please visit our website for more information: http://boulderhackerspace.com/dues/ Membership gets you 24/7 access to the space, access to all of our tools and supplies (with proper training), discounts on classes/workshops and supplies, and access to all the wonderful members of our community.